Comments on: Just a question from the polls

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:13:30 +0000

As a security person: What Gopi said, particularly the Schneier article. If you don’t feel like reading the article, the lack of any kind of audit trail is generally regarded to be the biggest (but not only) issue.

By: Gopi

Gopi — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 05:57:17 +0000

Paper is more secure, and leaves a trail that can be used to verify/recount.

Security expert Bruce Schneier has a nice essay explaining the issue:

http://www.schneier.com/essay-039.html

By: marlena

marlena — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:45:31 +0000

i live in oregon and the thing that i LIKE about voting with write in ballots (paper you send in the mail) is that i don’t have to go out of my way to wait in line to vote. With a rowdy 3 year old, it’s not very convenient. but what sucks about it is that they screw up so easily. for example, during the last presidential election, i had gotten married a few months before election day. i had changed my name and done all the right legal stuff i needed to do on my end. well lo and behold, they sent me a ballot for both my maiden AND my married name! i didn’t want them to throw out both my ballots when they realized i had voted with both my names and i had to go to the voter registration and straighten it out. annoying!
but what you mention is definitely a concern of mine. i guess you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t , know what i mean?

By: drew

drew — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:50:34 +0000

I think they should go old school style and make everyone bring their Number 2 Pencil with them to vote. But better yet, make sure it’s clear of who they’re voting for without the punch out holes and maybe make it permanent ink so they can’t easily erase it. Then you’re the one who feeds it into the counting machine with results printed out for you for proof.

There’s really no fool proof way to vote in my opinion. Anything can be tampered with.